Catholic bishops take campaign to prayer and pulpit

The Catholic Archdiocese of Seattle website is topped by three videos of Archbishop J. Peter Sartain arguing against same-sex marriage, but a newly posted “Prayer in Defense of Marriage” seems to carry a similar anti-Referendum 74 message. A passage:

“May your Holy Spirit enlighten our society to treasure the heroic love of husband and wife, and guide our leaders to sustain and protect the singular place of mothers and fathers in the lives of their children.”

Archbishop J. Peter Sartain

But that’s nothing compared to campaigning from the pulpit elsewhere in America. The most strident words, not surprisingly, come from Peroria, Ill., Bishop Daniel Jenky, who earlier likened Obama administration policies on contraception and health coverage to those of Stalin and Hitler.

Jenky ordered diocesan priests to read his latest broadside from their pulpits, telling them: “By virtue of your vow of obedience to me as your bishop, I require that this letter be personally read by each celebrating priest at each weekend Mass.”

The letter attacks Catholic public figures to support abortion rights and likens them to the crowd that demanded Jesus’ crucifixion. Writes Jenky: “Today, Catholic politicians, bureaucrats and their electoral supporters who callously enable the destruction of innocent human life in the womb also thereby reject Jesus as their Lord. They are objectively guilty of grave sin.”

The partisan message continues, and threats about the next life continue, s Jenky writes:

“Since the foundation of the American Republic and the adoption of the Bill of Rights, I do not think there has ever been a time more threatening to our religious liberty than the present . . . For those who hope for salvation, no political loyalty can ever take precedence over loyalty to the Lord Jesus Christ and to his Gospel of Life.”

The message on Referendum 74 in Washington is presented in a milder fashion. After a fiery pastoral letter last month from Bishop Joseph Tyson, the Diocese of Yakima website currently carries the headline: “Why a good person can vote against same-sex marriage.”

The message, especially on abortion, is far more strident in the Rust Belt. Green Bay, Wisconsin, Bishop David Ricken wrote in an October 24 letter that the Democratic Party platform support for marriage equality and abortion rights and other “intrinsic evils” puts parishoners’ souls at risk if they support the Democrats.

The Catholic bishops of Pennsylvania wrote a letter to voters last week arguing that abortion, contraception and marriage equality policies supported by the Obama administration and Democrats mean America is “losing its soul by little steps.”

The National Catholic Reporter sought response from James Salt, executive director of Catholics United, a progressive group, who charged that Jenky was “using the pulpits of his diocese for partisan procalmations” and warned that this will drive young people away from the church.

“By brazenly violating IRS and church guidelines against partisan activity, Bishop Jenky has shown that he is more interested in following the paths of Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson than the Gospel of Jesus Christ,” said Salt. “As more and more younger Catholics abandon the faith on account of the bishops’ far-right policies, Bishop Jenky should ponder how his antics will affect the relevance of the Catholic bishops for generations to come.”